We dropped out of warp a couple hours later. We arrived to a scene of gargantuan proportions, there it was. "The Morsus.. It's complete.." I spoke with an astounded ere. Chaos had been funding Project Hurricane for several decades. The Morsus had been set to launch soon after we had joined the Legions, but thanks to a bit of sabotage and a good portion of the ship having to be rebuilt and redesigned, it took significantly longer. The Morsus was in Inferno class ship. By comparison it had about the same mass as the planet Mars in Sector E23. It had planetary class guns the size of our ship entire ship, which was roughly the size of the Saturn V heavy lifter that put humans on the moon almost a hundred years ago now. We flew the Sangiunis around the length of the ship. It was massive. Simply massive, the ship was designed to be the symbol of the might of Chaos. It would hold and maintain the Legions in their entirety for decades. But behind it was something mightier, the main base of Chaos' Legions. Planet Vulcia, the home planet of the Black Dragoons. Home. "Semis Sanguinis, Semis Sanguinis, this is Star Admiral Ron Falcon. Come in Sanguinis." The radio crackled to life. Star Admiral Falcon was in charge of all the space surrounding Vulcia. Nico grabbed spoke clearly and with purpose. "Star Admiral Falcon, this is Forward Dragoon Di'Angelo, requesting docking codes for bay 0229." Familiarity, it was nice to hear. "Codes are sent. Welcome home Dragoons."
The ship touched down ten minutes later. Our subordinates were dismissed as soon as the ship was on the ground, so that left us to go see the big boss. I glanced back at Alyssa and Nico just quickly enough to see her give him a peck on the cheek before going off with the other Dragoons. They'd been together off an on through the years. Their personalities were just close enough together to clash, but just far enough apart to attract. I looked at Thalia, and she at me. Annabeth said long ago that we would either be best friends or worst enemies, who knew we would end up falling in love? I reached out and took her hand and she gave it a reassuring squeeze. Nico came and stood next to us with a raised eyebrow, before he could spit out a cutting remark I kicked him in the shin. He didn't even blink. Pain was nothing to us now. "Shall we go say hello to the Lord of the Void?" Thalia cut in, defusing the situation. Nico muttered something under his breath and I nodded and off we went.
Chaos stood in his throne room, located deep within Vulcia, close enough to the core that he could gaze into if he desired. He had ordered not to be disturbed so he hadn't bothered to put his suit on today. He wore nothing more than a bath robe and a t-shirt. He gazed into the lucis visius with a look of contemplation on his face. He had seen the events transpiring on earth. He knew that something would have to be done eventually. After all he is the nothingness from which all else sprang. It was his duty to do something once in a while. What else was he going to do with his armies? The Morsus was set to launch in less than a week. It would be his first public appearance in a good amount of time. "What am I to do with you Gods.." He muttered to no one in particular. It was then that he sensed another presence in the room with him. Three of them to be exact. Quickly he changed his outer appearance to match that of his normal attire. A white suit with black pinstripes, white shirt, black vest and tie. He stood facing away from them looking at the massive readout before him, a mirror of the screen on the Donec Pretium. "Welcome back to Vulica, Dragoons. I trust your mission went according to plan." Chaos spoke with power and poise in his voice, not allowing for a single iota of sway to indicate his mood. "Yes Lord Chaos." They spoke in unison. These three had served him for decades of their time, they knew how to behave in his presence. He was not to be trifled with. "That is good to hear, what was the the profit margin this time? Any casualties?" He turned to face them and they rose, once more in unison, from a bow before him. Percy stepped forward, he was the mouth piece of the Dragoons. "No casualties Lord Chaos. The payment was as expected, 2.8 million credits. We have already distributed among the Dragoons." Chaos nodded, he had no need for money. While they were his Dragoons what they did when not on assignment was their business. The god started to turn around when a voice stopped him. "Lord Chaos, We have another matter to discuss with you."
He took it well. He sat there the whole time with his head resting on his hand, just looking at us as we explained the nature of things on earth. He knew most of it already of course, it was his business to know. "Artemis recommended that the gods of earth be replaced?" Chaos questioned, seemingly putting the pieces together in his mind. "She made it clear that a full scale invasion of earth is in order. The Romans will defend the gods surely, and we can't be sure that Hera hasn't put together a pseudo-camp half-blood for the Greek kids." Chaos sighed and stood, that was never a good sign. He turned away from us before speaking. "There is something that you don't know." He stepped closer and spoke, "Display Time Decay Algorithim, subscript seventeen." A micro second later a lot of algebraic gibberish appeared on the screen. But there was a few words we understood. "Time Decay during sustained warp is approx. four years per light year of space traveled. Early tests display symptoms of a stoppage of time for all beings subject to warp." Chaos began to speak. "It may have felt like thirty years to you, but in reality it has been about three hundred. Traveling though warp space stops time for all aboard the ship, but time outside marches on. A warp trip from here to Sector E23 may take no more than a few hours, but to the humans, the time that flows is something like ten years. The nano-mites in your bodies keep you from noticing. The humans are far more advanced than you think. Several decades ago they launched their first ship capable of sustained warp, but they did not yet have the technology. If we send the legions, they will see us coming and will likely meet us in orbit. The ensuing battle would decimate the human race."
My eyes widened staring at the words on the screen in disbelief. I looked to my left and my right, Thalia had tears in her eyes and Nico looked angry. "You knew.. All this time. You knew.. It's been three hundred years! This is insane.." He yelled, trying to stay composed. "Lord Chaos.. everyone we knew was already dead. If they went for rebirth, they've already died a second and third time! For all we know our fathers could have reformed or something!" Thalia ranted, and Chaos took it all in stride as if he knew this would happen. He expected it I realized later. He shook his head. "No my dear Thalia, The big three really are dead. You would think they would reform, but there is a secret beyond fear to killing a god. The wife of Hercules, Hebe, is the goddess of youth. She is Hera's ally. She removed the youth from the big three. Their weapons failed them. They were overwhelmed in moments. They have burned in Tartarus for the last three centuries. Combine that with the lack of worship from the Greeks, and you have a combination that could cause a god to fade regardless." Our worlds were now officially rocked. "That is part of the reason why the gods have gone so crazy, they get no praise anymore, they have been starved prayers. Liken it if you will to starving a vampire of blood. They get desperate and insane, and the same is happening to the Gods."
Chaos began to pace considering the options. We were still trying to digest the fact that we had lived for over three hundred years and not noticed. It made sense when I thought about it, the only time we went to earth we never went near a city. On Vulcia everyone was on the same time frame, as time is relative to you and your perception of it. We would have never known about this, but he chose to tell us. We could take the Legions to earth, but there was no guarantee the human race would survive. I finally found my voice. "Lord Chaos, why are you telling us this now?" He sighed, "Percy, the humans have been in almost perpetual war for the last three hundred years, yet the population continued to rise, right now it rests at one hundred billion. The earth is horribly over populated. People resort to cannibalism daily. If I send my Legions there it wouldn't be for a war. It was be to help those people. Sure the wealthy get off world, they go to other planets. Mars has a thriving colony of a few million, as does the moon. The armies of earth are so vast by now that ninety percent of the population is enlisted. Their armada grows by the year and while their largest ship is just shy of Dog class, It would still be two massive ships against many. I'm trying to get you to understand. This is something not to be taken lightly. It would be the first time we've ever had to use the planetary guns. What if we miss? What if we hit earth!? Percy this is why I'm telling you this! There is far too great a threat of collateral damage! For all you know the Romans have a star fleet of their own. All I know for certain is that no human has warp capabilities. They would detect us the moment we dropped out of warp though. Percy.. This is the single riskiest request the three of you have ever made." Now I could see, Chaos had to consider everything. It wasn't that he thought we would lose, he knew we wouldn't. He knew we would decimate whatever we ran into. That was what he was worried about. This campaign against the gods would cost hundreds of millions if not billions of human lives. "Mankind is one of the few intelligent creatures that came about over the countless eons Percy. I will let you do as you have asked on one condition. Do not wipe out mankind. Do what you need to do, but do not establish new Gods. Let the humans rule themselves. I want to see what they will do with the freedom."
We left the throne room in a daze. Our lives have lasted for centuries longer than intended, we had killed thousands of people. We had lived half a dozen life times and not even known it. Percy was the first to speak. "Guys, why didn't we see it coming?" He had held a stone face in the throne room, but now I could see him breaking, his facade was wavering. "My mom died centuries ago.. and I wasn't there to say goodbye.." His face fell, he looked like he was about to cry. I reached out and grabbed his hand. I had to let him know that the world hadn't ended. Sure my mom had died somewhere in there, didn't matter to me. She hated me and I returned the favor. We returned to our private quarters to allow the news to sink in.
Plot twist! Review please. ~Muffin
